Staking A Claim
by Silencing
Summary: The Doctor claims Rose, in a rather unexpectedly sweet way


A/N-After much stalling and fretting over how to even begin writing Who!Fic, this idea popped up one day in the kitchen. Comments and Critiques are always welcome, please enjoy. Thanks as always to my best friend and part time beta: Rogue, for looking this over and her patience with my writer's block.

Disclaimer: I don't own Doctor Who, rather I like to think it owns me.

*****

The Doctor pulled himself up from underneath the TARDIS console, momentarily satisfied with his repairs. It was hard to keep the old girl up to scratch these days, which meant more frequent days spent in the Vortex, working endlessly on repairs. It was days like these that he missed his ninth form the most. Those were hands that dealt well with the constant work. His new, longer, leaner hands were more versatile, but more prone to ache. Today he's thankful that it was a simple alteration that needed to be done to the console, and not the hours of maintenance he's grown used to. It's a pleasant change to still be in the mood for a trip right after slaving over the controls. Now the only problem might be finding his companion.

There are many words the Doctor has for Rose Tyler. Brilliant is one, stubborn is another. Sometimes the words come in combinations. Jeopardy friendly has been used more than once. And the best way to describe her would be Prone-To-Wandering-Off. Rule breaker that she is. And quite beautiful. And his mind was getting off the subject again. Right. Looking would prove helpful.

He started in the most likely place, not even hesitating before throwing the door to her bedroom open. It bounced against the wall, providing him with a clear view of an empty bed. That was odd. He had completely expected her to be sleeping, it seemed like she treated it as a hobby these days. He didn't stop to think about it though, just turned heel and continued down another corridor. He ended up checking the entertainment room, the gardens, and even the library before finally giving up and going to the kitchen. And of course that's where he would find her.

She was standing at the stove, removing the kettle with one hand and snacking on something with the other. He grinned, impressed by his timing, but then again, Time Lord. As he approached his companion, he tried to compose the best way to ask her to prepare him a cup but stopped in his tracks when he saw what she had in her mouth. She was nibbling on a biscuit, and although that wouldn't immediately give him pause, it did when he recognised it. It was from a box that he had picked up on Xoros R, one that had taken him hours to find in the crowded market. And one he had been saving. And from the looks of the counter, she had worked her way through the box.

"Oi! What do you think you're doing?" he barked out, staring at the box of biscuits incredulously.

Rose stopped eating mid bite, apparently unaware that he had joined her in the room. Finally, after a second of regaining her composure, she started hurriedly chewing again, and began to talk around the end of the bite, "Just snacking. I was unaware that it was now a capitol crime around here."

The Doctor sent her that look that made her feel years younger than she really was and bounced back a reply, "That's hardly the case Rose. It's just..." he fumbles, trying to convey the severity of the situation, "those were mine. And I was saving them."

Rose chuckles at the pitiful look on his face. Trust the Doctor to think the end of the world came in the form of her eating his biscuits. Sometimes his logic was just completely irrational, and she figured that was easily countered with that of her childhood.

"Oh really? Well I hardly saw your name on them?"

"And what difference does that make? That they weren't frosted?"

Obviously he wasn't understanding her reasoning, "Well, no they weren't, but that's hardly the point. I'm just asking how I was to know you were saving them if there was no physical indication? You can hardly think that someone's going to leave something so terribly inviting alone if they know it's up for grabs."

He raised his eyes brows at her semi-flirtatious tone, wondering if she was still on the topic of his biscuits that had been unjustifiably consumed by his companion. Shrugging internally, he decided to play along and see where she was going with this.

"Well, but what if I couldn't physically claim it?"

"And what exactly do you mean by that, Doctor?"

"Say for instance, it was...a banana," good ol' standby, bananas, "I can hardly write 'Property of the Doctor' on it without ruining the quality of the banana. So how is someone to know that the banana is not just free for the taking?"

Rose grinned, tongue appearing briefly between her teeth, "Well then I guess you would have to make it known somehow. Like declare it from the rooftops or something."

He could tell the mood had shifted as it often did when he and Rose were in close quarters. Her flirting tone had taken over, and she had started to play coy. Electricity sparked the air and something in one of his hearts started to beat one faster than the other. He knew that there would two ways to go with this sort of situation, he could back out slowly like he always did, letting the electricity die with his joviality. Or...

He stepped closer to her, his voice lowering minutely, "And what if I didn't want the whole world to know?" he was tempted to make a reference back to Christmas and roofs, but there was a tension in the air suddenly that didn't match with the playfulness that would suggest.

Rose swallowed audibly, trying and failing to ignore the sudden increase in her heartbeat and the feeling of her stomach flipping over, "Well I guess you would just have to tell someone in private. It's a simple matter of keeping certain parties informed of the status quo, I guess..." she paused briefly, "but we're not talking about biscuits any more are we?" she said, pulling a breath in despite her body's want to stop entirely.

The Doctor chuckled, the sound rumbling low in his chest as he stepped even closer and reached for her hand. She gave it willingly and closed the distance between them, staring intently into his eyes.

"Hardly. We're not talking about bananas either."

"So what are we talking about?" she said, her voice barely audible.

He smiled then, one side of his mouth tipping up, and she tried desperately not to stare, "I believe that would be you, Rose Tyler."

She swallowed urge to gasp and instead managed, "Me? What about me?"

"You're mine, Rose," he said plainly and with that he lowered his mouth to hers.

Anything thought she might have been considering having at that moment was lost the moment his lips found hers. She could vaguely remember feeling this once before, back when she was a prisoner in her own mind and not completely sure in her heart that she was still travelling with the same man. The feeling came back two fold, the insistent press of his lips against hers and the sudden wonder if this was the same man. She was unable to investigate that curiosity further though, due to the fact that he was pulling back from her. She pressed forward, trying to keep his lips against hers, fighting for a few more moments in which she could deepen the kiss. She failed however, and he straighten, opening his eyes and staring intently at her.

"Keep that in mind, Rose," he said as he released his hold on her waist. He grabbed her wrists, pulling down her hands from where she had buried them in his ruffled hair. He stepped away from her easily, as she was stunned into silence, and made his way to the doorway. When he had reached it, she had just turned around to watch his retreating figure, mouth parted widely in confusion.

"Oh. And let me know when tea's ready, yeah?" he said simply, and then left, Rose grinning after : The Doctor gets possessive


End file.
